Sally’s Cafe and Bookstore – Summer #Sale – #FREE books by D.G. Kaye and Steve Boseley

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Monsters on Monsters in Fiction

Universal Monsters

Ogre-  Do we have any of the monsters above in this chat room?

Vampire-  I’m here, but I’m the romantic kind.

Werewolf-  Same.

Dragon-  That would be a no then.  This is exactly the problem I was talking about last time.

Gremlin-  At least the humanization process hasn’t reached all of us.  Then again, we’re typically used as fodder for heroes these days.

Zombie-  Am I supposed to be slow, fast, smart, dumb, infectious, talkative, or frozen?  I don’t know what I am any more!

Demon- I believe we’re overreacting.  Our kind have been changed from culture to culture since before the times of fiction writing.  Dragon, you’ve been a fire-breathing lizard with wings and a wingless protector over the years.  Mermaids have been beautiful and murderous.  These changes happen.

Werewolf-  I miss eating people.

Vampire-  My cousin can still drink blood from humans.  Though, he says some strong type that’s immune to sunlight turned up recently.

Fairy-  At least you guys know you’re monsters.  My kind never knows if they’re going to be good or evil until we appear on the page.  The poor Leprechaun has been in therapy for decades.

Dragon-  And we’re back to grievances instead of answers.  What do you think, Mummy?

Mummy- I’m a terrible person to ask.  My abilities have been at the whim of CGI for years and nobody remembers me for anything else.  Zombies, skeletons, and ghosts always beat me out for the undead roles.

Ogre-  You should get a better agent.  I did after ogre was becoming too kiddie.  I’ve gotten into a few fantasy stories since then.  People still get me mixed up with orcs and trolls though.

Demon-  I think that’s part of the problem.  Many of us have become interchangeable with those who are closest to us.  Authors will grab you, toss you into a scene, and give very little thought to your history.  If I asked you to describe a demon then I’m sure you’d all come up with the same picture.  Yet, my kind include such variety that is barely used outside of obscure works.

Gremlin-  Fans can make things difficult too.  An author tries to use a classic version of us and it can backfire.  They’re either called a copycat of the current trend or told that they need to get with the times.  Monsters are surprisingly criticized too.

Dragon-  What about the science arguments?  I can barely exist thanks to people pointing out that I make no sense.  In a world of people hurling fireballs and making speeches with mortal wounds, it’s the giant flying lizard that’s unbelievable.

Giant-  Preach on, scaly brother.

Vampire-  On the plus side, we’re still finding work.  Things would be a lot worse if people decided that stories shouldn’t have monsters any more.  I’m always terrified that all of us will be cast aside because nobody wants us.  Can you imagine that?

Demon-  Sadly, I can, but there will always be a group in society that needs us.  It could be video games, movies, TV shows, or books.  You’ll always have at least one author who thinks stories need some monsters.

Ogre- Unless they replace all of us with aliens.

Werewolf-  Wait, we don’t count them as monsters?

Gremlin- Not since they made their own guild and stiffed us on their last month of dues.

Werewolf- Oh . . . Screw those guys then.

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One Surprising Question You May Not Ask Yourself

P. H. Solomon's avatarStory Empire

Hello to all the Story Empire readers and thanks for visiting us once again today. I’m tasked with our Friday writing question this month so I’ve come up with one you may not consider. How big is your audience?

Most of the time we ask the question, who is your audience? While this is a very good question to consider regarding the demographics of readers that you are targeting and one you should keep foremost in your mind, how big your audience is will always be very important. This seems like a simple question and answer, however it’s one that has a deeper meaning, covering how many genres in which you write and much more.

How big your audience is does not depend on the size of your email list. Instead, it depends on how many total copies you have sold of your highest selling book. Audience size also applies…

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The 2018 Author Interview Series Featuring Debra Purdy Kong

Unknown's avatarDon Massenzio

This week’s author interview features Debra Purdy Kong. She brings her practical experience on the periphery of law enforcement and her degree in criminology to her writing. Her interview is enjoyable and revealing. I hope you enjoy this latest interview in the series.

On a side note, though the initial response was gratifying, I find myself running out of interview subjects by mid August. If you haven’t been interviewed, or even if you have and you have a new release coming out, please feel free to contact me to be interviewed at don@donmassenzio.com. I will send you the information and get you scheduled.

You can check out the 210 author interviews I’ve conducted thus far on my Author Directory page.

Now, let’s meet Debra Purdy Kong.


Debra Purdy Kong, 2016Do you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?

It’s a combination of both for me. I try…

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Summer Reads, Summer Deals

Nicholas C. Rossis's avatarNicholas C. Rossis

Celebrate With Gifts

To celebrate the imminent release of my next book, A Heaven For Toasters, my entire Pearseus series will be FREE/99c between the 16th and 20th! This is the perfect opportunity to buy any of the books in the series you may have missed.

Check out Pearseus on Amazon.

Pearseus free days | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's books

An Amazing Giveaway

Next, Paula Wynne is running a book giveaway with Book Luver with over 300 books to give away. Some are paperbacks and others are eBooks. There are bestsellers to win too: one of them has sold over 1 million copies already! There are 100s of books to win so please invite your friends and family to enter. By entering you will not be automatically subscribed to the author or publisher’s email. You select which books you want to win. Only if you want to hear from that author again, you tick a…

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Converging Paths, on #LisaBurtonRadio

coldhandboyack's avatarEntertaining Stories

Lisa Burton

Don’t touch that dial. You’ve landed on Lisa Burton Radio. The only show that brings you the characters from the stories you love. The world is balancing on the head of a pin today, and my special guest has some insight into the problem and a possible solution. “Welcome The Old Lady of Alexandria to the show today.”

“Thank you. I am very tired from having my home restored after a fire. It is good to rest a while and do what I like best.”

“Well, I suppose you can smoke in here. You know it’s bad for you, right?”

“At my stage in life, what does it matter? Would you like one?”

“I’m sure they’re fine cigars, but I don’t even have lungs. Sorry. My little bio says you own a bookstore in Alexandria. I assume something you read brought some insight into the problem we’re facing today.”

“As…

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Carla’s Catering: Non-Human Customers Only

Godzilla vs King Kong

Welcome and don’t mind the mess.  We just finished getting an order out for a goblin prom, so there are plucked feathers everywhere.  Chickens?  No, it was all ratites like ostrichs, emus, and one really psychotic kiwi.  You don’t want to know what those will do when they get angry and have been fed nothing but magic potions since it was hatched.  I do apologize if that sounds enticing since we’re all out of that.  Still, we have plenty of stock.  What’s your event?

A monster prom is always a challenge since you have a large variety.  Well, the first question I have is if guests are going to be eating each other.  If that’s allowed then I won’t overestimate the amounts we need to prepare.  Along that line of thinking, we have a strict ‘no eating the help’ rule, which results in extreme punishments.  Basically, the monster who does the eating is put on our menu along with the host that hired us in the first place.  All attempts to get out of this waiver will be met with failure and the catering company’s owner will have to step in.  Do you happen to remember Atlantis?  Yes, that’s what happens if you push us too far.  Now, let’s make the menu.

Let’s get the boring stuff out of the way.  All fruits and vegetables platters are prepared an hour prior to the event.  We will bring our preserved produce to the venue and cut everything up in our catering truck.  Everything is grown in our jungle garden out back, so here is an in-depth list.  As you can see, it’s thirty pages long and you can talk to our gardener to help with the details.  These are always charged by the platter, which can cover ten to twenty guests depending on how many bother with such things.  We also have a special service in regards to our carnivorous dishes.  None of them are big enough to devour anything the size of a goblin or larger, so we can have them placed live in the dining area.  The kids might enjoy a little wrestling for their meal.  This is primarily a dessert service because clothing will probably be ripped.

We can provide an appetizer bar for the first hour of the event, which I know is usually called a cocktail hour.  Due to a misunderstanding, we’re not legally allowed to use the term in our services.  I recommend minimizing the amount of cheese dishes.  Monsters don’t always remember that they have issues with dairy and I’m sure you have some fiery creatures as students.  This is entirely your call, but our experience is that such a combination can end a party quickly.  Shellfish is . . . You don’t have any golems, do you?  Okay then shellfish should be fine and we have everything from shrimp to crab legs to kraken fritters.  Also, one of our top chefs makes a delicious fried human fingers, which are seasoned to imitate mozzarella sticks.  Of course many of our opening and ending dishes are human-made.  They may be delicious themselves, but they know how to open and close a grand meal.  I guess I could flip to the end and check off all the desserts to save us some time.

For a prom, we like to give the students a choice of four entrees that can come with fries, a salad, or steamed sugar roots sprinkled with Patprika.  It’s like paprika, but it’s the ground up organs of people named Pat.  Now, one would traditionally do a meat, poultry, fish, and pasta dish as the choices.  No need for a vegetarian one since these are monsters and those types would have had their fill at the salad stage.  For meat, we have everything ranging from naked mole rat kebabs to blue whale steaks.  Of course, whale isn’t going to be considered a fish since it’s a mammal.  Thought you ran a school.  Yes, we do have the ingredients for a predator stew, which includes lion, tiger, wolf, grizzly bear, and crocodile.  I recommend adding some rattlesnake in there for a kick.  Poultry is the same wide selection, but I will remind you that we’re out of ratite.  Stuffed puffin is a good choice and they come with olives and pickles.  What is it stuffed with?  I assume we can use minced macaw for that.  Fish is . . . swordfish flambe is it then.  You picked that out rather quickly.  Let’s move on to the pasta dish.  Do you want pasta?  Okay then we’ll provide whatever we feel like because it’s rare that a monster will go for a carbs only dish.

I think that covers everything except drinks.  These monsters are underage, so nothing alcoholic even though we have the licenses.  Sodas, water, and teas can be provided as well as coffee later on.  Juices are possible, but we’ll do the same thing we do with the fruit to make sure they’re fresh.  I see you’ve noticed the fountain option.  Pick one of our types of virgin punches to be cycled through the device and guests can drink at their leisure.  Why is it called a virgin punch?  Because we don’t put alcohol in it . . . and some of them do have the blood of virgins.  The best one we have with that ingredient is mixed with a grape soda, which sounds disgusting, but is quite tasty.  I assure you all of our blood sources who claim to be virgins truly are that.  We have them on the honor system as well as wearing permanent rings that will make them violently ill if they try.  Nothing ruins the mood for humans like projectile vomiting.  Now, come this way for the sampler and see if there are any changes that you wish to make.

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Book Promo – Get ‘A Favourite Son’ for 99c/99p on 18th July…

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This Week in Indie Publishing

Unknown's avatarDon Massenzio

If Your Protagonist is a Person of Color Your Book Cover Might Get Whitewashed

If Your Protagonist is a Person of Color Your Book Cover Might Get WhitewashedThe old phrase is that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but if that were true a significant chunk of the marketing industry wouldn’t exist. We absolutely judge books by their covers, and when it’s a question of the race of your main characters, there’s a good chance that people of color are going to get whitewashed. How likely is that? Is there anything you can do about it? Let’s explore the ins and outs of the subject.

Author Control of Book Covers
It’s important to know that in the major publishers an author has virtually no say about the cover image of his or her book. Even someone as famous and established as Anne Rice has thrown up her hands and declared herself powerless when fans complained about the cover of Prince Lestat. There…

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Teaser Tuesday: The Paura Rider #fantasy #99cents

Cover Art by Sean Harrington

Quest of the Brokenhearted is still 99 cents for a few weeks.  *hint hint wink wink*  I want to bring out this excerpt because of the monster involved.  The Paura Riders were something I designed in high school, so it’s great to see them last so long and end up in a published work.  Enjoy.

Continue reading

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